Monday, June 09, 2008

Several recent surveys seem to indicate that many vacationers are forgoing flying – choosing to drive instead, even considering gas prices. So we thought we’d do a quick back-of-the-napkin comparison.

Say you’re planning a week or longer leisure trip along the west coast, and weighing the costs of flying versus driving. Let’s pretend it’s 800 miles one way – far enough that it’s a two-day drive, compared to a one-stop flight (which, of course, will take all of a day each way, with diving to the airport, security, plane change, and car rental time). If you can afford the extra day each way, here’s our very simple breakdown:

So, for $340 less, but two extra days, you get to take your golf clubs, lots of luggage, and bring home cases of wine or gourmet foods.

If you’re a family, those extra airfares for the rest of the family send this comparison out the (car) window. As will extra-baggage fees if you want to travel with the luxuries you can stuff in your car for free. And if you want to upgrade to a decent car.

You don’t have to take your shoes off to go through security to get to your car. You can snack as you want (better and cheaper, too). You can still feel your butt even after a day of driving because you can stop to stretch and move around. If you have pets and can find pet-friendly lodging, you can take the critters and save on kennel costs.

You (probably) won’t be made to feel like a criminal by the U.S. government (TSA). You’ll see some incredible scenery along the way.

Finally, the cheap $300 airfare example we’ve used may soon be a thing of the past. Is it surprising that the U.S. airline industry is in deep trouble?

Disclosure:

We write this blog for fun. We offer our honest opinions and commentary about the topics we choose to discuss.

Although the world runs on “grease,” none seems to flow our direction – no free trips, no free products. We have received invitations from a couple of hotels to visit their properties, but have not yet done so. Should we ever accept any freebies, and subsequently write about that company/product/destination, we will disclose that information in our review. Our review will still carry our honest opinion – positive, negative, or neutral.

Secondly, we are not part of any affiliate marketing program. We get no compensation from referrals if we write positively about an airline (however unlikely that would be), destination, product, or service. We get no revenue from any link to any site we refer to anywhere in our writing.

Lastly, we have no control over ads that Google posts on our site. We don’t even know the content of those ads, as they change frequently and at random. To be honest, we don’t even look at what’s being advertised.